Restaurant that took share of waiters' tips -- while paying them $3 an hour -- must return money

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

A South Carolina restaurant must pay nearly $76,000 worth of back wages to 10 employees after illegally forcing them to share their tips with the owner and manager, the U.S. Department of Labor said Monday.

An investigation into Sarku Hibachi Grill & Buffet found that the eatery was pocketing a portion of the money that customers gave to its servers, who were paid an hourly wage of $3 or less, authorities said. As a result, those employees ended up working for less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, according to the agency.

The restaurant, located in Surfside Beach, also failed to keep a record of cooks’ work hours, the Department of Labor said.

“Restaurant workers are essential workers. They work hard for their tips and rely on them to pay their bills and feed their families,” said Jamie Benefiel, director of the agency’s Wage and Hour Division District in Columbia, S.C.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/restaurant-that-took-share-of-waiters-tips-%e2%80%94-while-paying-them-dollar3-an-hour-%e2%80%94-must-return-money-labor-department/ar-AANUb5F

[Backseat Driver]

1. Just as mine DH did 40 FT hours a week as an essential worker for

a non-living wage all during the CoVid pandemic even when most customers arrived un-masked. Did they reward him with a raise, no! For a couple weeks before, comp time--sent him home early w/pay. On the outskirts of a big city with multiple locations, did they transfer him to a store that needed to fill workers and so make up hours or try to augment the 20 PT hours plus $40, he's now been assigned at that store, no? So now, he essentially works half as much as we need to feed and pay the utitilies, disgusting and immoral. I smell ageism at work at the very least, but he does more physically meeting his scheduled hours and mentally handling the vendors than the CovIdiots they've hired lately that never even bother to show up. Their personal lives and emotions are in such chaos, they "cry" and just can't work once they get there. Again, "nothing personal, just business."

[Chainfire]

2. It is a crooked SOB that steals their already underpaid employee's wages.

And the service businesses wonder why they are having a hell of a time recruiting help...

[Bev54]

3. I still cannot get over that they are allowed to pay servers less than minimum wage

In Canada, they are treated as every other worker and get at least minimum wage, which in many places, including my province, $15.00 per hour plus their tips. A good server can make good money. Sometimes a small percentage is put aside for the cooks etc. I know when my son worked as a server at a night club in 2003-2004, he was making $500-$800 a night (weekend) in tips over and above his wage. They shared a small percentage with the backup staff but when you have 20 servers making that, the backup staff did well too. Management did not keep any portion.